A few years ago I came across the great Mr Jaiswal. It would not be too much to say that I owe him a tremendous debt.
The most valuable thing he did was to introduce me to a totally different approach than the one I had been used to. Up to this point I have been a bit wary of speaking about this openly, because I know he's upset plenty of people in the past, but I think I need to get over this. He gave me an introduction to the tradition of philosophy, and an introduction to His Holiness. I was going to say "a re-introduction", but really I had never been introduced before. I had to let go of a few treasured assumptions before I could meet His Holiness properly.
The first thing I noticed about Mr Jaiswal is that he often uses the first person. This is unlike some august figures in the School, who will say something like "the response to that is ..." suggesting that there words descend from some great peak of impersonal knowledge, when what they mean is, "in my opinion". Mr Jaiswal will say, "in my opinion", or more often, "in my personal opinion", when that is what he means. So the first lesson I take from Mr Jaiswal is:
1. Never be pretentious.
PS please read the comments on the recent posts (click on "1/2/3 comments" link) for some interesting conversations.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
An introduction to His Holiness
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7 comments:
Hear, hear! Pretentiousness - meaning an assumption of greater knowledge - is a trap for the unwary speaker and a barrier for the listener. It dissolves when the speaker acts from inner knowledge. Pretentiousness - in my personal opinion - arises from fear.
If I can play Devil's Advocate (against myself) here, what about "assume a virtue though you have it not" (Hamlet)? Is this just an example of Polonius being a sneaky courtier?
Should we ever "assume" the virtue of wisdom? Or should we accept Confucius' doctrine:
"Wisdom is, to say, 'I know' when you know, and to say 'I do not know', when you do not know".
An interesting point - which begs the question whether or not wisdom is a 'virtue'?
Leaving that question aside for a moment, 'assume a virtue if you have it not' may be regarded as an aspect of wisdom inasmuch as it allows the actor to play a role for which he or she may not otherwise be fitted.
By playing that role, the door to an appreciation of the virtue - already ajar -may open wider. It almost certainly will, and the actor will find his new clothes fit him more easily.
An appreciation of a virtue is not the same as having that virtue but it is close cousins. All it requires is a little further commitment.
To take but one example: I often rush in where angels fear to tread - but I also admire the virtues of patience and courage. Patience and courage may not always be mine but, even when I'm fearful,they are closer companions than they would be if I did not know them to be virtues of a universal kind.
When I was a teenager I loved riding. Horses are wonderful creatures but inclined to nervousness and sudden alarums(getting Shakespearean here) - and it was essential to learn how to control my pony. Any fear is immediately transmitted to the animal through the rider's voice and body. I learnt how to give my pony equanimity and courage even when in a tangle of fear myself.
It was an assumption of virtue on my part but it helped the animal, gave me safety and a knowledge that I might not otherwise have experienced.
How could it go wrong? 'Assume a virtue...' is immensely enabling. It could go wrong only if used to deceive. Which brings us back to pretentiousness.
Another question you've raised - Confucius' recommendation of truthfulness of knowledge or lack of - may we discuss this further?
Well isn't that weird. I was tutoring a group last night and what quotation do you think came up in the second half material? I'll give you a clue, it was from Hamlet...
Maybe it's just my approach, but I don't trust the idea.
"it allows the actor to play a role for which he or she may not otherwise be fitted"
I appreciate the force of what you're saying, but I think it's significant that Shakespeare always puts philosophical statements into the mouths of doubtful figures like Polonius (who is not at all true to his own self, or to others) or Jaques.
There is one exception, which is Prospero, in the final scenes of The Tempest. Shakespeare seems finally to tip his hand. "But this rough magic I here abjure".
I think that for me at least, "assume a virtue" comes into the category of rough magic, ie somehow tricking yourself into being better than you really are. This is Montaigne, writing about facing death, where there can at last be no more pretence or aspiration:
“We must use plain words, and display such goodness or purity as we have at the bottom of the pot”.
I should say, following Socrates, that wisdom is the cardinal virtue.
Delighted to come back to Confucius ...
Yes, one can see the evidence of trickery all around, a bosom pal of hypocrisy. I have a certain amount of time for hypocrisy inasmuch as it can be regarded as 'the obeisance that vice pays to virtue' or, sometimes, 'the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak'. This is a worldly view but is it second-rate? Not something to aspire to, but a useful safety-net?
But it does allow another, and better, consideration of 'assume a virtue...'. To assume a virtue does not, in my view at least, make any assumption to being better than one really is. Rather, it is a recognition, an 'Hullo, glad to see you here, may we be friends?' that, in time, may lead to a closer union.
If, however, the virtue is assumed for some fell purpose then, like Dorian Grey's portrait in the attic, all will be horribly revealed at the end.
I also used to think the 'Assume a virtue' quote came from Polonius but it doesn't. It is spoken by Hamlet to the Queen in Act 3, Scene 4. The text before and after this excerpt may be of interest in your discussion:
Hamlet:
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency.
Thanks for that - I just discovered it myself last week. Oops.
Well, anyway - perhaps of the 4 Platonic virtues - courage, temperance, justice, wisdom - only the first two are the kind of virtues to which this applies?
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